Goodbye Football, hello M. Hoops

The Penn men's basketball team opens 1997-98 against towering Rice. Boxing out for rebounds and fronting the defender down low are the kind of hard-nosed plays that are ignored in the box score. But it is these skills that will determine Penn's fate tomorrow at 4:45 p.m. at the Palestra when the Quakers kick off the 1997-98 season. Visiting Rice (0-2) brings a young and dangerous team from the WAC that likes to play post-up basketball. Although the Owls lost 65-53 to Florida State in their Friday opener, and 88-61 to No. 4 Kansas on Monday, the Owls will keep Penn on its toes -- literally. Rice head coach Willis Wilson starts his three towers -- 6'11" center Alex Bougaieff, 6'9" forward Jarvis Kelley Sanni and 6'8" forward Derek Michaelis -- in the frontcourt, with the 5'10" Mike Wilks and 6'4" Robert Johnson seeing extended time at the guards because of an injury to senior Bobby Crawford. No matter who Penn coach Fran Dunphy sends to the floor to guard the Owls, the Quakers are noticeably smaller. "They're a pretty good team with good size," Dunphy said. "They may see our situation and their eyes might light up." Playing a two-forward, three-guard set, the Quakers yield six to 11 total inches, depending upon which members of Penn's five-guard rotation are on the floor. With center Geoff Owens out for the season, and power forward Paul Romanczuk recovering from a stress fracture of the knee, Dunphy turns to 6'7" junior Jed Ryan and 6'6" senior George Mboya to play down low on Bougaieff and Sanni. "We have to play bigger than we are," Ryan said. "Offensively, my strength is still being able to go to the perimeter and bring the other team's center out. But, at the same time, I'll have to play a little more on the block." Penn's lack of size down low is a concern. However, the Quakers have precedent for keeping opposing centers in check with shorter defenders, like past Red and Blue players 6'9" Tim Krug and 6'6" Eric Moore, manning the middle. What's rare is that Penn is starting three guards, meaning that one of them will match defensively with Michaelis. This matchup can't bode well for the Quakers. Michaelis, an athletic freshman who passed up a contract with Major League Baseball's Arizona Diamondbacks expansion team, plays both hardball and hoops for Rice. The two-sport standout has shown ability to score in the paint, averaging 20.0 points per contest playing down low in high school. At 6'6", Frank Brown is Penn's tallest among the guard rotation and should match up best with Michaelis. But when the junior sits, it's a crapshoot to see who covers the Rice forward. Matt Langel, a 6'5" sophomore, as well as 6-footers Michael Jordan and Garett Kreitz, all may match up defensively at some point with the 6'8" frosh. "There may be a time when Kreitz is matched up with Michaelis," Dunphy said. "But there's not much we can do. We can't shrink him and grow Garett before the game." Covering Sanni may prove an even more challenging task. He can potentially draw double teams in the paint, creating an open shot for Rice's outside game. On Wednesday, Sanni was unstoppable, eating up 6'7" Kansas forward Paul Pierce for 25 points and 11 boards. If the Jayhawks couldn't stop him one-on-one, in isolation, it does not appear likely the Quakers can even contain him. There are different approaches to keeping a bigger offensive player off the scoreboard. "You have to make up for a lack of size with a little more intensity," Ryan said. "By frustrating the guy. If he catches the ball on the block, there's nothing you can do being six inches undersized, because everybody jumps the same." If the Penn defense is able to prevent these entry passes down low, it may become a whole new ball game. While Michaelis and Sanni have the height in their favor, both players will struggle getting to the perimeter to guard against the Quakers' three-point shooting. Neither Ryan nor Mboya should have problems dribbling the ball around Bougaieff, who is naturally slow of foot. "We're not looking at them different than anyone else," Mboya said. "They're a little bigger than us, but we just have to box out and rebound." Despite the lack of size, if Penn keeps Rice off the backboards, they'll have a shot of finishing on top on the scoreboard.

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